Fire Sermon - Text

Text

In this discourse, the Buddha describes the sense bases and resultant mental phenomena as "burning" with passion, aversion, delusion and suffering. Seeing such, a noble disciple becomes disenchanted with, dispassionate toward and thus liberated from the senses bases, achieving arahantship. This is described in more detail below.

After a prefatory paragraph identifying this discourse's location of deliverance (Gaya) and audience (a thousand monks or bhikkhus), the Buddha proclaims (represented here in English and Pali):

"Bhikkhus, all is burning."

Sabbaṃ bhikkhave ādittaṃ
Figure 1: The Pali Canon's Six Sextets:
sense bases

→		 f
e
e
l
i
n
g

→		 c
r
a
v
i
n
g
"internal"
sense
organs		 <–> "external"
sense
objects
↓ ↓
↓ contact
↓ ↑

consciousness
  1. The six internal sense bases are the eye, ear,
    nose, tongue, body & mind.
  2. The six external sense bases are visible forms,
    sound, odor, flavors, touch & mental objects.
  3. Sense-specific consciousness arises dependent
    on an internal & an external sense base.
  4. Contact is the meeting of an internal sense
    base, external sense base & consciousness.
  5. Feeling is dependent on contact.
  6. Craving is dependent on feeling.
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The ensuing text reveals that "all" (sabba) refers to:

  • the six internal sense bases (ayatana): eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind
  • the six external sense bases: visible forms, sound, smells, tastes, touches and mental objects
  • consciousness (viññāṇa) contingent on these sense bases
  • the contact (samphassa) of a specific sense organ (such as the ear), its sense object (sound) and sense-specific consciousness.
  • what is subsequently felt (vedayita): pleasure (sukha), pain (dukkha), or neither (adukkhamasukhaṃ).

By "burning" (āditta) is meant:

  • the fire of passion (rāgagginā)
  • the fire of aversion (dosagginā)
  • the fire of delusion (mohagginā)
  • the manifestations of suffering: birth, aging and death, sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses and despairs.

According to the Buddha, a well-instructed noble disciple (sutavā ariyasāvako) sees this burning and thus becomes disenchanted (nibbindati) with the sense bases and their mental sequelae. The text then uses a formula found in dozens of discourses to describe the manner in which such disenchantment leads to liberation from suffering:

"Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate.
Through dispassion, he is fully released.
With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.'
He discerns that 'Birth is ended,
the holy life fulfilled,
the task done.
There is nothing further for this world.'"

Nibbindaṃ virajjati
virāgā vimuccati,
vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti,
khīṇā jāti,
vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ,
kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ
nāparaṃ itthattāyāti pajānātī ti. '

A closing paragraph reports that, during this discourse, the thousand monks in attendance became liberated.

Read more about this topic:  Fire Sermon

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